By Donu Kogbara
I CLEARLY recall President Goodluck Jonathan standing up at an Independence Day service a couple of months ago and informing his audience that he was not a lion, tiger, army general, Egyptian Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar (the neo-Babylonian king who conquered Jerusalem and sent the Jews into exile).

When a man goes out of his way to distance himself from bellicose Biblical figures, professional combatants and the fiercest inhabitants of the animal kingdom, most people, understandably, assume that belligerence is not his “thing” and that he’s a peace-lover who will bend over backwards to avoid conflict.

And I can’t tell you how amazed I and many of my friends were when President Jonathan suddenly decided, last weekend, to fight two big battles simultaneously.

First, on New Years Eve, he effectively declared war on Boko Haram by announcing a State of Emergency in areas that have been most ravaged by terrorist activity. This move would probably have earned him lots of praise if he hadn’t – the very next day and while Nigerians were still soberly reflecting on recent sad events and still trying to absorb the shock of bloody bombings that had marred the Christmas holiday period – announced that the fuel subsidy era was being consigned to history…with immediate effect.

Inevitable protests

Given that nobody relishes inflation, protests were inevitable and we’re now being told that a general strike is imminent and that lots of individuals and associations – the Nigerian Labour Congress, lawyers, civil rights activists, legislators, opposition parties, etc – are absolutely furious with the government.

Everyone I’ve spoken to so far has expressed anger, disappointment or concerns about the timing of the above announcements. Even diehard fans of President Jonathan (and there aren’t many nowadays!) are wearily shaking their heads and saying that they wish he had postponed subsidy withdrawal until he had won more hearts and minds on the deregulation front…and made more progress on the Boko-busting front.

The question I want to ask is this: Why is  President Jonathan behaving so uncharacteristically? Who advised him to recklessly emulate a kamikaze pilot? Is it really necessary to look for almost everyone’s trouble at the same time?

OK, so good leaders should notabe obsessed with popularity or afraid of doing things that annoy people in the short-term but will improve their existences in the medium – or long-term. But does President Jonathan not realise that timing matters and that many more Christians and law-abiding Muslims would have been enthusiastically hailing him and his new security strategy this week if they had not been so angry about the huge increase in their transport costs?

Has it not also occurred to the President that many citizens who are vigorously opposing subsidy removal now will not oppose it three months down the line if the policy is properly explained to them? Or if the government proves that it can drastically reduce corruption and deliver operational refineries fairly quickly?

It is possible that Mr President felt so stung by those “wimp” allegations that he now believes that that he needs to carry on like a super-macho tough guy.

Good news – for a change
EVERY cloud has a silver lining; and I have cause to celebrate despite the fact that my country is going through multiple convulsions at the moment.

Why? Because the white racist killers of Stephen Lawrence have finally been jailed after a court case that ran for several weeks and was the most high-profile race-related trial in British history.

Nelson Mandela even intervened at one point. I am in London at the moment and the judge has just sentenced Gary Dobson and David Norris to long stretches in one of Her Majesty’s prisons and I both wept and cheered when this fantastic news was made public.

Stephen, an exemplary youngster, was brutally murdered nearly 2 decades ago purely because he was black. He was a teenager then. And the thugs who so cruelly cut him down in his prime broke his parents’ hearts.

Doreen and Neville Lawrence – honest, decent, hard-working Jamaican immigrants – have tirelessly fought for justice; and they got it this week.

The Nevilles’ marriage collapsed under the strain of this 18-year quest for justice but their efforts have had an electrifying impact on British society.

They highlighted the institutional racism within the British police force and compelled many previously indifferent whites – ordinary folks as well as top decision-makers – to search their consciences and change their previously negative attitudes towards non-Caucasian settlers from distant lands.

The police eventually did their darndest to sincerely investigate the case and find evidence against the suspects (everyone knew they had committed the crime because there were witnesses, but forensic evidence was hard to come by). The police even went to the lengths of buying a house in one of the suspects’ neighbourhoods, so they could monitor him closely. So bravo to them.

David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, had this to say: “The

verdict cannot ease the pain of losing a son. But, for Doreen and Neville Lawrence, I hope it brings some comfort after their years of struggle…”

Special thanks are due to the Daily Mail (a newspaper I am proud to say I used to work for!). Its Editor, Paul Dacre, was outraged when it began to look as if Norris and Dobson would get away with murder; and he stuck his neck out and  took risks and played a courageous and crucial campaigning role.

As Doreen so poignantly put it: “The Daily Mail made my son’s murder matter to the whole country.”Stephen can now, thank God, rest in peace.